Kowalski's Virtual Reality Challenge
by sbartist357
Summary: During a storm, the penguins stay inside without any way to train, that is until Kowalski presents his latest invention: A virtual reality training program! What can possibly go wrong?
1. A New Method of Training

**Hello, everyone! Welcome to my fourth PoM story! :D Although the genre says Adventure/Humor,** **there will be some drama throughout the story as well. Okay, without further ado, please enjoy the first chapter! :)**

* * *

The sound of rain and thunder was faintly heard through the locked fish hatch. The penguins were doing their normal hobbies to pass the time, except Skipper; he was pacing back and forth, occasionally glaring at the ceiling. Private saw him in the TV screen's reflection and turned around.

"Skippah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, young Private. It's just this storm - this team needs to stay sharp, but we can't train topside until Mamma Nature lets us." Private nodded in understanding and went back to watching TV. He grabbed the remote, flipped over to the news channel, and turned the volume up.

"This is Chuck Charles, reporting live from the news room," The anchorman announced, fixing some papers in front of him. "The rain continues to pour at this hour and, according to our reports, the storm is expected to stay until tomorrow night. Stay tuned for further developments." Private shut it off and stood up.

"Well, tomorrow night isn't that long to wait, Skippah," He said optimistically, turning and walking over to him. "We can train harder to make up for the training we miss." Rico, who was sitting nearby, nodded.

"Uh-huh!" Skipper shook his head.

"No dice. I'd rather train on schedule, regardless of what the weather is like. Of course, since we can't train outside, I'll have to think of something else."

"We can work on our instinct training," Private suggested. Rico regurgitated one of their ninja bowling pins and held it up.

"Ninja?" He asked.

"Hmm. . . Those are both good ideas, but no." Just then, Kowalski walked out of his lab, carrying a bunch of equipment, and put the pile down in front of the television set. The others looked at him.

"What are you doing, Kowalski?" The youngest questioned. The lieutenant smiled at him.

"I'm glad you asked, Private," He said, connecting the various machines to the back of the TV. "Since the storm is preventing us from going outside, I took the liberty of inventing a new way to train." Skipper crossed his flippers and grinned.

"I like the sound of that, Kowalski. What is this new method of training?" The scientist finished organizing the boxes on the floor, turned the TV back on, and held up a pair of VR goggles. Unlike the traditional kind, this one had a microphone headset attached to it.

"Virtual reality!" He exclaimed. "With this headset, we'll be able to train without the need for physical equipment or perfect weather conditions! Who wants to try it first?" The others looked at each other.

"How about you, Private?" Skipper asked, placing a flipper on his shoulder. The little penguin frowned, unsure.

"Umm. . . I don't think I-" The leader pushed him toward Kowalski, who placed the VR goggles on his head.

"Good! Okay, Kowalski, let's see what this thing can do." The lieutenant waddled over to a lever, which was a clean, unused toilet plunger, and used it to navigate through the training program's menu on the TV.

"The program I've created consists of ten levels that get progressively harder as you advance. Each one will put emphasis on a specific skill, such as combat, stealth, and instincts. You have only three lives for all ten levels so, if you lose them, you'll have to start again from the very beginning. Are you ready, Private?" He glanced at Private, who was standing nervously a few inches away.

"I guess so."

"Alright, here we go," He pushed the plunger down to select the word "START" and turned to Skipper and Rico. "We'll be able to see everything that Private's seeing on the TV." The menu on the TV screen disappeared and displayed an empty, dimly-lit room. Private looked around the virtual environment.

"Hey, this is pretty neat, Kowalski!" He said, smiling. "How do I move forward?"

"Just walk like you would if you were actually there; the same thing applies to interacting with objects."

"Okay." Private turned around and walked toward a door on the far side of the room. He reached out, turned the knob, and opened the door. Underneath the goggles, Private's eyes widened as he noticed a bomb on the floor in front of him. He screamed and jumped to the side just as it went off. Skipper and Rico flinched.

"This is level one!?" The leader questioned, looking at Kowalski. "I thought it was going to be a tutorial or something."

"No." He replied. Private shakily got back on his feet and cautiously peeked through the doorway. There was a long hallway that stretched out in both directions.

"Which way do I go?"

"You'll need to figure that out for yourself, Private," Kowalski said. Skipper gently nudged him.

"Come on, give the boy a hint, Kowalski."

"Okay. Turn-" Suddenly, the lights in the HQ flickered. The virtual environment glitched slightly.

"What's going on?" Private asked, unaware of the surrounding electrical problem.

"It's nothing to worry about! I'm sure it's just because of the storm outside!" The scientist explained nervously. Skipper noticed his tone.

"Kowalski, maybe we should pause this until the storm lightens up a little." The electricity completely went out, causing darkness to flood the HQ.

"Uhh. . . The electricity should kick back in any second now. . ." The lieutenant said. Finally, the lights flickered back on and they sighed in relief.

"Well, that wasn't so bad. Alright, Private, you can-" Skipper stopped mid-sentence and gasped. Private was gone; the VR headset he was wearing now lay on the floor.

"Where's Pwivate?" Rico asked. Kowalski glanced up at the TV and screamed; Private was walking around in the level, still trying to decide which way to turn.

"Kowalski, which way should I go?"

"Private!" Skipper cried, running over to the TV. The others followed. The young penguin continued looking down both sides of the hallway, oblivious. Eventually, he turned around and let out a yelp.

"Skippah! Kowalski! Rico! What happened?" He waddled in their direction until he was touching the inside of the TV glass.

"Private, can you hear me?" Skipper asked. Private looked at him and shook his head.

"I can see you, but I can't hear what you're saying." The leader turned to Kowalski.

"What's going on? Why can't he hear us?"

"It appears that the temporary power failure caused the virtual reality headset to glitch, resulting in Private getting sucked into the program. As for the communication problem, he has nothing to hear us with." The scientist explained, his face filled with concern.

"How is he able to see us, then?"

"I presume the camera in the program and the TV itself are acting as a reverse VR headset, minus the audio."

"How can he get out?"

"He has no choice but to beat all ten levels," Kowalski answered. "Private needs to be extra careful. If he loses all three lives. . ." He stopped, a lump swelling in his throat.

"What?"

". . . He'll be gone forever."

* * *

 **Well, that's not good. :/ Oh, by the way, the doors are penguin-sized, so Private didn't have to jump up to "grab" the doorknob and turn it. I'll provide additional notes on the VR world in later chapters. :) So, we have the problem established. How will Skipper react to hearing this news? Will Private survive through all ten levels? The first question shall be answered in the next chapter, so read on! :D**


	2. Level 1

**Okay, here's the next chapter! Thank you to taylormomsen8 for reviewing! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Here's a virtual love smoothie for you (shout-out to Zyar for the idea)! c(') Alright, let's see what happens next! We'll start with Skipper's reaction to the news. Here's a hint: He's not happy. Okay, no more hints! ;)**

* * *

That was all Skipper needed to hear. He suddenly grabbed Kowalski and slammed him against the side wall, pinning him with his flippers. Private, unable to hear what was going on, watched the scene in utter shock.

"Kowalski, there must be another way to get him out of there!" Skipper shouted. The tall penguin shook his head, slightly panicked.

"I'm sorry, Skipper! If there was another way, I would bring him back right now, but I can't!" The two of them held each other's gaze for a minute before the leader finally let him go. He turned away from him and paced the floor, his flippers behind his back.

"He can't stay in there forever; he's just a boy." He whispered softly. Kowalski and Rico exchanged glances. Skipper stood up straight and spun around to face them.

"I'm going to help him get out of there if it's the last thing I do." Before anyone could stop him, he picked up the VR goggles and put them on. There was a bright flash of light, and he disappeared. Kowalski and Rico gazed at the TV. Skipper appeared next to Private, startling him.

"Oh! Hi, Skippah!" He said happily, realizing he wasn't alone anymore.

"Hey, Private!" The two of them looked at Kowalski, who was still surprised. "Kowalski, what do we have to do to get out of this level?"

Since he knew they wouldn't be able to hear him, Kowalski tried to think of another way of walking them through it. He gestured for them to wait as he ran into his lab and came back with his whiteboard and dry-erase marker. He scribbled out a series of drawings outlining what they needed to do. Skipper and Private studied it.

"Okay, so we go out into the hallway, make a right, and head to the first door on the left; we have to watch out for a second bomb after opening it. Then, we go through the exit door into level two." Skipper concluded. Kowalski nodded to tell him that he interpreted the message correctly.

"Alright. Come on, Private," The two of them walked away from the glass. When they reached the doorway leading out into the hall, Skipper turned around. "Uhh. . . You'll be able to see us, right?" Kowalski erased the doodle from before and drew a new one, explaining that he needed to make a few minor changes to the camera, but otherwise would be able to follow them shortly.

"Good, because I need you to warn us about what you slapped into this thing." Skipper said teasingly. Kowalski gave him a little smile.

With a final nod, Skipper and Private waddled into the hallway and headed to the right, disappearing from the camera's view. Kowalski put the whiteboard down and adjusted the settings on one of the metal boxes. On-screen, the camera moved so it had both penguins in view.

"Okay, I got them in sight," Kowalski said, looking up at the TV. Skipper noticed the camera was right behind them.

"Well, that was fast. Anyway, Kowalski, you forgot to mention that the door has a lock on it." The scientist grabbed his whiteboard again, wrote the numbers 0-1-3-1, and turned it around to show them. Private stared at the code and reached for the door's keypad.

"Got it." He pressed the right buttons and the door slid open, revealing the second bomb. They dove out of the way just in time. After the smoke cleared, they waddled into the room and opened the exit door, which had a green checkmark on it. The TV screen displayed Private's and Skipper's health (shown as penguin silhouettes), the time it took them to complete the level, and their overall scores, like so:

 **LEVEL 01 COMPLETE**

( **Time, Private:** 5:32/ **Time, Skipper:** 4:00)

 **Private:** 3 lives, 300 points

 **Skipper:** 3 lives, 360 points

Kowalski pushed the lever down to select "CONTINUE".

* * *

 **Sorry, this chapter was kind of short! The next one will be a little longer (and slightly funnier)! It was mainly just to introduce everyone to how the levels will be played out and things. As for the scoring system, yes, I actually created a formula to calculate it out (I don't like typing random numbers; it's a Kowalski-type characteristic I have). ^^; Here it is if you're curious:**

 **Overall Score = (300-t) + (100*L),** **where _t_ is the player's time in seconds and _L_ is the number of lives the player has; the number 300 is the ideal time of five minutes (300 seconds) to beat the level, and 100 is the number of points given per life.**

 **(Sigh) Don't you just love fairly-basic algebraic expressions? (Kowalski: I do!) XD Well, level one is complete, but what will level two involve? Find out in the next chapter!**


	3. Level 2

**Okay, here's chapter three! As promised, this chapter is a little longer! :D No reviews this time around, so we'll just continue! :)**

* * *

The screen changed to show Skipper and Private standing in another room, this one bigger and more unnerving than the last one. There were a few boxes spread around the room and a door across from them; other than that, the room was barren. They turned to face the camera.

"Okay, Kowalski. Enlighten us." Skipper instructed. The scientist scribbled a bunch of drawings explaining that the room they were in had hidden pressure switches on the floor that they must avoid.

"Alright. So, where are these pressure switches?" Kowalski shrugged and shook his head.

"You mean you don't know?" Private asked. "How come?"

"Let me guess. The program generates them randomly." Skipper interjected. Kowalski nodded.

"Great." Skipper put his flippers on his hips and stared at the floor meticulously. Private turned to face the other way and studied the floor as well. He cautiously took a step forward. There was a soft click, and a rocket launcher appeared on the far side of the room.

"Skippah!" Private shouted, pointing at the massive weapon. Skipper turned to see what he was looking at. They both ducked just as a rocket soared above them and crashed into the wall. In the HQ, Rico gasped - that thing couldn't be defeated without weapons. He growled and glanced at the VR goggles.

"I'm goin' in."

"Rico, wait!" Kowalski turned and placed his flippers on his comrade's shoulders. "Before you jump in there, it would be best to have some sort of audio communication so I can talk you guys through everything. Give me a headset."

"Okay." Rico coughed up one of the team's earphones and handed it to him.

"Perfect. Now, you'll have to start on level one, so just do the exact same thing Skipper and Private did to get through it and you'll meet them in level two, okay?" Rico nodded. "Once you're all together, give them earphones as well so the three of you can hear me." The scarred penguin picked up the VR headset, put it on, and disappeared. Kowalski returned his attention to the TV and noticed Rico's icon appear on the top of the screen next to the others.

"Skipper, Private, hang on!" He said to himself. The lieutenant took the lever and used it to switch cameras so he could see Rico's progress. The crazy penguin quickly made it through the first level unscathed, giving him a score of 540 points. He entered level two and slid to where the others were laying on the floor.

"Rico!" They shouted with joy. Rico smiled and hacked up three earphones. They each put them on.

"Guys, can you hear me?" Kowalski asked, putting his earphone on as well.

"Loud and clear, Kowalski," Skipper answered. "And just in time, too. I was about to ask you how to get out of here." The scientist muted the television; no need to hear them through the TV speakers since they all had headsets on now.

"Well, Rico figured he'd jump in and help you guys out. Since he's there now, too, anything he regurgitates is fair game." Rico promptly retrieved a bazooka from his stomach and fired at the rocket launcher, destroying it.

"Alright, Rico!" Private cheered.

"Okay, like I showed you before, the floor is littered with hidden pressure switches," Kowalski said. "You'll have to be careful. Remember, if any of you lose all three lives, it's game over. . . literally." Private, who hadn't heard the conversation earlier, grew worried.

"Skippah, what happened to simply starting over?"

"Well, the glitch sort of upped the ante. Look, we're going to get out of here, Private. I promise." They stood up and examined the room for another way across. Skipper stared at the far wall and got an idea.

"Kowalski, are there any pressure points on the walls?"

"No."

"Rico, zipline." The penguin hacked up a different bazooka and fired. A rope with suction cups tied to each end shot out of both sides of the barrel. One end stuck onto the far wall next to the door and the other to the wall behind them. The penguins hung onto the rope and carefully made their way across, making sure to keep their feet off the ground. Once they reached the other side, they landed in front of the exit and left the rope where it was. They opened the door and were pleasantly surprised to see an empty hallway.

"Yay, no bombs!" Private said. They waddled through the doorway. Out of nowhere, a huge mallet swung at them. Skipper and Private dodged just in time, but Rico wasn't so fortunate. He was sent flying. The mohawked penguin crashed into the wall next to the level's entrance point and disappeared.

"RICO!" Skipper yelled in despair. "Kowalski, why didn't you give us a heads-up!?" They jumped when Rico suddenly reappeared next to them, flickering slightly.

"Sorry, Skipper. I forgot about that one."

"What 'appen'd?" Rico grumbled, staring at himself in confusion and checking for wounds.

"You lost a life. That means you only have two left." Rico glared at Kowalski through the camera.

"Don't you have notes or something on what you put in the game?" Private questioned. Kowalski slapped his forehead.

"Why didn't I think of that? They're in my lab. Hang on." He left the room momentarily to retrieve them while the others waited impatiently. After a minute or so, he returned, holding a giant pile of papers in his flippers. They stared at it, wide-eyed.

"Exactly how much DID you put in this training program, Kowalski?" Skipper asked.

"Not that much. These are my notes for the entire VR program, not just the level information," He replied, flipping through the papers. "Aha! Here they are." He removed a much smaller packet from the stack and shoved the rest to the side.

"Okay, so besides that giant mallet, what else is in here?"

"Let's see. . . A few feet ahead of you, there's a laser grid. The exit door is right behind it." The penguins crawled underneath the now unmoving mallet and stood up. Rico hacked up a smoke bomb, revealing the infrared beams.

"How do we disable the grid?" Private asked.

"There's a button next to the exit door." Rico coughed up a small rock and threw it over the lasers, hitting the button in one shot. The beams disappeared and the group slid over to the exit.

 **LEVEL 02 COMPLETE**

( **Time, Skipper and Private:** 3:58/ **Time, Rico:** 2:28)

 **Private:** 3 lives, 662 points

 **Skipper:** 3 lives, 722 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 892 points

* * *

 **Okay, so now Private, Skipper, and Rico are inside the VR program. As for references, the bazooka zipline was used in "Thumb Drive", Skipper dramatically screaming Rico's name was based on "Driven to the Brink", and the headsets they're wearing are the ones from "In the Line of Doody". Hopefully, Kowalski's notes help them get through the rest of the levels easier. The next chapter is a double-feature (i.e. two levels in one chapter), so keep reading! :)**


	4. Levels 3 & 4

**Woo-hoo! The next chapter is here! :D Yay! Another review! Thank you, Ecto-1! :) Here's a virtual love smoothie for you! c(') Cool! Yeah, hopefully they make it out okay (they still have quite a few levels, though)! Well, let's see how levels three and four go. :) Oh, just a quick note: There are levels with humans in them; in that case, the level area is people-sized, but the exit door is still penguin-sized.**

* * *

Skipper, Rico, and Private found themselves in a dark, gray hallway. It was almost impossible to see.

"Rico, flashlight." The leader instructed. Rico threw one up and turned it on, illuminating the path in front of them. "Kowalski, mind telling us what to expect?"

"This time, there are no traps to worry about," Kowalski announced. The three penguins sighed in relief. "Just the guards and vicious guard dogs around every corner."

"Seriously, Kowalski? This is only level three! What did you put in level ten!?"

"I don't want to spoil anything, Skipper!"

"Ugh. Fine. Where's the first guard?"

"Walking in the adjacent hallway, fifteen feet ahead. Once you knock him out, he'll disappear. Beware his taser! You'll lose a life if you get zapped." The penguins slid to the first intersection. "Oh, they'll see your flashlight, so I suggest turning it off." Rico did and put it away. Skipper peeked around the corner; the guard was walking with his back turned to them. He quickly slid over, flipped onto the guard's shoulder, and gave him a quick chop to the neck. The man dropped and vanished.

"Alright, one down." Private and Rico joined him and they proceeded down the path.

"Second guard at one o'clock," Kowalski warned. "This one has a dog. Oh, the dogs are not wearing leashes, by the way."

"Umm. . . Exactly how vicious are these guard dogs, Kowalski?" Private inquired. The group suddenly heard a deep growl and the dog appeared out of a nearby hallway. He spotted them and charged.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Skipper ordered. The penguins did as they were told. Somehow, halfway through the exercise, Private wound up on the dog's back, clinging on for dear life.

"Skippah! Rico! Help!" The two penguins watched as Private and the guard dog went around the corner and out of sight.

"After him!" Skipper and Rico were in pursuit. "Kowalski, where are they headed?"

"They're going to the exit door. There are two more guards along the way, these ones equipped with dart guns, so stay alert. Take the next right and then a sharp left; they're stuck at the end of the hallway." They followed the instructions. The first guard spotted them as they slid past.

"Hey!" He took his dart gun out of its holster and fired, the dart missing them by mere centimeters.

"Rico, take care of him! I'll get the other one!" Rico nodded and slid back to finish him off. Skipper took a sharp left and ran right into the second guard. He looked up to see the barrel of the gun pointed straight at him. He did a backflip and landed upright a couple of feet away just as the dart shot out.

"Ha! How do you like me now, Mr.-" The dart ricocheted off the floor and got him right in the chest. "Curse you, Kowalski." Skipper fell over and disappeared. A second later, he flickered back on-screen, standing a few inches away from where he was shot.

"Sorry, Skipper. I forgot to mention that projectiles can ricochet off the floor." The lieutenant replied sheepishly. The leader groaned in annoyance and went on to defeat the guard. Rico caught up with him and they continued to the end of the hallway. Private was still clutching onto the dog's back as it attempted to kick him off.

"Rico, dog toy." Rico coughed up a rubber duck and squeaked it repeatedly, getting the animal's attention. The dog stopped kicking and glared at it. With teeth bared, he charged at Rico, who quickly threw the duck far behind him. The dog ran past them, pounced on the duck, and started tearing it to shreds. Skipper and Rico rushed over to Private, who was now lying on his back.

"You okay?" Rico mumbled. The little penguin nodded and got up.

"Let's get out of here." Skipper said. A loud bark made them turn around; to their horror, the dog had finished destroying the toy and was now stampeding toward them. "GO, GO, GO!" Skipper shoved the others ahead of him and got through the exit just in time. The door shut behind them.

"Whew! That was close. . ." Private gasped. Suddenly, the dog's teeth punctured the door, making them jump.

 **LEVEL 03 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 2:30)

 **Private:** 3 lives, 1,112 points

 **Skipper:** 2 lives, 1,122 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 1,242 points

Kowalski hit "CONTINUE". The scoreboard vanished and showed the starting point for level four. They were now outside on a beautiful grassy hill covered in flowers. Above them was a lovely blue sky. Private smiled.

"Ooh, I like this level!" Next to him, Skipper frowned.

"I don't. It looks too perfect, like it's just waiting for us to put our guard down."

"Oh, don't worry, Skipper, you'll like this level," Kowalski said through the earphone. Skipper cocked an eyebrow.

"And why is that?"

"Just walk over the crest of the hill you're standing on and you'll see." The penguins glanced at each other but did as they were told. The hill they were on had a magnificent view of a valley beneath them, but that's not what caught Skipper's eye; it was what was in the valley that did.

Hippies. Hippies everywhere. They were all decked out in tie-dye outfits, long hair, peace signs, and every other hippie accessory imaginable. They were just relaxing without a care in the world, like sitting ducks. Needless to say, Skipper was beyond ecstatic.

"Is this level what I think it is?" He asked, growing more excited with each passing moment. Kowalski smiled.

"Yep. It's a full-on combat level. Beat the hippies, and you advance to the next level." Nothing more needed to be said. Skipper threw his flippers up into the air and started charging down the hill.

"YES! TIME TO SLAP SOME HIPPIES! WOO-HOO!" Within seconds, hair bands, peace signs, and glasses were flying everywhere.

"Peace, man-" SLAP!

"Groovy-" SLAP!

"Flower power, dude-" SLAP!

Private stared on, mouth agape. Rico wanted to jump in, but he knew he would only get in Skipper's way if he did - what good was it if he got slapped around by Skipper in the process? The fight ended almost as quickly as it had started. Skipper was standing in the middle of the field, still in a combat pose.

"Come on, who's next?" The others slid down the hill and joined him. Private raised his flipper slightly.

"Umm. . . Skippah, the fight is over."

"What?"

"The fight is over." Private repeated. Skipper looked around to see that he was right and sighed.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted." He waddled to the exit door, the others following.

 **LEVEL 04 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 0:30)

 **Private:** 3 lives, 1,682 points

 **Skipper:** 2 lives, 1,592 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 1,712 points

* * *

 **Awesome job, Skipper! You beat those hippies in just thirty seconds! (Skipper: YES! TAKE THAT, HIPPIES!) XD Okay, we're approaching the halfway mark of the penguins' VR adventure. Be prepared for some humor mixed with DRAMA in all-capital letters (like shown in this very sentence). ;)**


	5. Level 5

**Okay! Here's the next chapter. Again, be prepared for some DRAMA (and humor, too)! :) Thank you to Sweetpanda12 for the review! It's nice to hear that I've managed to keep everyone in-character! :D Enjoy your virtual love smoothie! c(') Alright, onward!**

* * *

"Alright, level five! We're halfway there, boys! Up high!" They slapped each other's flippers. "Now, what's next?" They were now in a dense jungle at the edge of a steep cliff. A long rope bridge stretched from where they were to a ridge on the other side.

"Level five focuses on staying calm. The bridge in front of you is 300 feet up, and the river beneath it is filled with alligators." Kowalski informed them.

"How cliché." Skipper retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, it might help if you don't look down while crossing it."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Kowalski."

"You're welcome, sir." He replied, smiling. The penguins slowly made their way onto the bridge. Skipper went first, followed by Private, and Rico taking up the rear. The bridge creaked as the wood boards bent underneath their weight. They continued to make their way across.

Meanwhile, in the HQ, Kowalski heard someone coming. He turned away from the TV just as the side entrance opened, revealing Maurice, Julien, and Mort. Maurice was totally drenched, his gray fur looking almost black. Julien, on the other hand, was completely dry, as he was holding Mort above his head like an umbrella. Naturally, Mort was soaking wet because of this.

"Hello, smarty penguin!" The ring-tailed lemur exclaimed, shaking Mort and tossing him to the side like most people do with their umbrellas. Kowalski turned off his microphone so he wouldn't distract his teammates.

"Julien, what are you doing here?"

"Well, the sky spirits are seeming to be in a bad mood, and their anger has flooded my kingdom. So, we decided to come here for a royal slumber party!" Mort, whose fur was all fluffy from Julien shaking him earlier, cheered.

"Yay! We can do pillow fights, too!" He grabbed Skipper's pillow from the bottom bunk and swung it around. Julien smiled at him.

"Yes, Mort, we can!" He yanked the pillow away from Mort and smacked him in the face with it, sending him crashing into the wall next to the fish plaque. "I win!" Kowalski face-flippered.

"Get out of here! I don't have time for this!" He tried to push Julien out but, as expected, the lemur didn't budge.

"Hey! I cannot be going back to my kingdom! It is flooded!" Kowalski sighed.

"Fine. Just sit down and don't touch anything." He turned his attention back to the TV. Maurice and Julien sat on the floor behind him, but Mort was doing something else. He grabbed a mango from out of nowhere, dropped it into the penguins' blender, and turned it on. The electricity started to falter. Kowalski's eyes widened as he noticed the VR environment glitch slightly, causing the bridge the penguins were on to disappear.

"What the-?" Skipper looked beneath him and saw the 300-foot drop Kowalski warned them about. The penguins began falling. Suddenly, the bridge returned. Skipper and Rico managed to grab onto the wood planks, but Private couldn't. Skipper desperately tried to grab the boy's flipper, but only managed to touch the tip of it.

"SkippAAAAAHHHHH!" The small penguin plummeted into the river and vanished. The remaining penguins climbed back onto the bridge and glared at Kowalski through the camera.

"What is going on, Kowalski?!" Skipper demanded. "And what are the lemurs doing in our HQ?" He added, noticing said lemurs. Private flickered behind them on the bridge, looking more than a bit peeved. The lieutenant turned his microphone back on and pulled Mort away from the blender, which he had quickly turned off moments before.

"I'm sorry, Skipper! The lemurs came in and - AHHHH!" He looked to see Julien turning on a small popcorn machine. Kowalski turned his microphone off again.

"Hey, smarty penguin! I'm making some poppity corn for the royal sleepover!" The penguin ran over to him as the game glitched a second time.

Skipper, Private, and Rico quickly ran to the other side of the bridge as it faded, making it just in time. They turned to see the bridge and the starting point of the level pixelate and freeze up.

"STOP! You're causing the power to surge!" Kowalski cried. He shoved Julien to the side and unplugged the appliance.

"Kowalski, I need an explanation RIGHT NOW!" Skipper shouted. The lieutenant activated his mic again.

"The lemurs are causing the power to surge, Skipper! If the power goes out, all of you will disappear forever!" The three penguins gasped.

"Get them out of there! I don't care what kind of force you need to use, just keep them from cutting the power!" Skipper ordered, watching helplessly as Kowalski struggled to keep everything under control.

"I'm trying!" He replied, grabbing the lemurs and pushing them to the door. Mort slipped around him and returned to the blender, determined to finish making his smoothie. He threw a few more fruits into the blender and reached for the button with the highest possible setting.

"Kowalski! Behind you!" Private called, seeing what was happening. Kowalski turned around just as Mort pushed the button.

"NOOOOO!" It was too late. The electricity surged a third time, more than ever before. The lightbulbs in the HQ glowed a brilliant white and burst, causing shards of glass to land on the floor around them. He turned to the TV to see the screen flickering.

"KOWALSKI!" The penguins cried. He ran to the screen and touched the glass, the others doing the same from the other side. The screen glitched once more before going black. There was a deafening silence as his heart sank.

They were gone.

* * *

 **WAIT! THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY (so don't freak out too much)! :O Okay, now for the grieving: WHY?! They were so young and epic! (cries) Is this really the end for our beloved penguins? Find out in the next chapter!**


	6. Still Alive?

**Okay! I'm sure everyone wants to know if out if Skipper, Private, and Rico are still alive. Well, you'll find out in this chapter! We pick up right after the power goes out. It starts off a little on the sad side, but please bear with me and I'm sure you won't be disappointed! :) Oh, real quick, I drew a picture of this scene. If you want to see it, just go to DeviantArt and type in my username, TheKuddlyKrab; the picture is titled "PoM: Kowalski's VR Challenge Ch. 6" (without the quotes).** **Okay, now back to the story!**

* * *

"No. . ." Kowalski moaned. "No, no, no. . ." He closed his eyes, sobbing as he crumpled to the floor, his flippers sliding down the cool, dark glass of the TV screen. He curled up against the concrete TV stand, tears streaming down his face. In just seconds, he had lost all three of his teammates.

In the middle of the darkened room, the lemurs watched him silently, unsure of what to do. Julien and Mort had no idea what had happened, but Maurice had a feeling he did. While the others were busy messing around, he had watched the whole thing. He saw Skipper, Private, and Rico talking to Kowalski on the TV; although he himself couldn't hear them, Kowalski certainly did. He saw the glitches in the program, the penguins' expressions growing more concerned each time, but it was that final moment, when the penguins reached out and touched their flippers to the glass, that hit him the hardest; they wouldn't have done that unless there was something seriously wrong.

Maurice suddenly felt a pain in his chest; he hadn't done anything to help. He had a hunch as to what could happen if the power went out; in fact, he heard Kowalski say they'd be gone forever. So why is it that, given the opportunity to help, he sat there and did nothing? He continued to stare as the tall penguin's silhouette shook softly.

"I couldn't stop them. . . I tried my best. . ." Kowalski murmured, covering his face with his flippers. Maurice glanced at the TV. For a quick second, he thought he saw a tiny spark in the middle of the screen. He squinted his eyes for a minute, then shook his head. No. It must've been his imagination. Just as he was about to escort the others out, he saw it again. Wait a second.

". . . Kowalski?" The aye-aye said awkwardly. The penguin took in a quick breath, but remained silent; it was embarrassing to fall apart in front of anyone besides his team. He lowered his flippers from his face and looked at him, his eyes wet. Maurice pointed at the TV. The penguin looked up at it just as another spark flashed. He gasped and stood up, touching the screen with his flippers.

Ever so slowly, the screen turned back on, the outlines of the VR environment barely noticeable. Kowalski's heart jumped; could they still be alive? He stared at the screen intently, holding his breath as if the slightest movement would cause to screen to go black again. After what seemed like forever, the screen finished loading. The program's camera displayed the bridge and the entry point of the level, which were both still pixelated, but the penguins were nowhere in sight. His heart sank again. Suddenly, a voice came in on his headset.

"Kowalski? Are you there?" The voice, albeit familiar, was barely above a whisper.

"Skipper? Is that you?" He croaked, his voice hoarse from crying.

"Yeah, Kowalski, it's me."

"You're alive!?" He asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm haunting you from the great penguin ice floe in the sky." Skipper joked; his voice sounded louder now.

"Where are you?" He questioned, still touching the glass; he really didn't want to leave the TV screen to manually adjust the camera.

"I'm right here. Turn the camera around." Reluctantly, Kowalski peeled himself away from the TV to grab the lever on the floor. He nudged it to the right and the camera did an 180-degree turn to reveal Skipper, unharmed and looking as charming as ever.

"Where's Private and Rico?" At that moment, two more figures walked into the camera's view and smiled at him.

"Here we are!" Private chirped. Rico waved at him.

"'Ey, K'walski!" The lieutenant beamed; they were alive and well! Although, he wondered how that was possible.

"Oh, it's great to see you!" He wiped his face, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying. Private, being the thoughtful one, noticed this, but decided not to pry. "But, how come you're not, well, you know. . ."

"You're the scientist, Kowalski," Skipper replied. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to be telling us?" The lieutenant smiled.

"Right." He tapped his chin, trying to think. While doing so, his eyes wandered over to a small machine with buttons and an LED screen. "Of course!" He kneeled in front of it and checked the display, which read 2:05.

"What?"

"When I made the VR training program, I took precautionary measures in case of electrical problems, since I made it for us to use when we couldn't train outside. This box is a backup memory bank, so if the electricity went out, it would save all the game's data for five minutes. Fortunately, the power came back on with just over two minutes to spare!"

"Thank goodness for that!" Private cheered.

"How did it happen to come on by itself?" Skipper asked. The tall penguin went over to the gigantic pile of papers from earlier and pulled out a list of items he made for the program.

"Oh, right. I made a backup generator as well to kick in if the main power failed." He explained, pointing to another box.

"Well then, it looks like you were prepared after all. Too bad you completely forgot about that when we thought we were going to disappear forever." Kowalski scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, sorry." Skipper noticed the lemurs still standing in the HQ and frowned. "And why are the lemurs still in our HQ?" For the first time since he entered, Julien stared at the TV screen and noticed Skipper, Private, and Rico. He smiled and walked closer, stopping next to Kowalski.

"Hi, smelly penguins! What are you doing in the magical TV box?"

"RINGTAIL, GET OUT OF OUR HQ!" Skipper yelled, unintentionally right into Kowalski's earhole.

"AHHH!" He quickly yanked the earphone out and unmuted the TV so that Julien could hear them without Skipper destroying his eardrum in the process. The leader looked at him.

"Oh, sorry, Kowalski," Julien glanced at the penguin in confusion for a second before looking back at the TV. "As for you, Ringtail, I'm not going to waste my time explaining what we're doing in here. Just get out." Julien crossed his arms.

"Well, like I was saying to the smarty penguin here, the sky spirits are upset and have flooded my kingdom. How am I supposed to rule over the zoo and surrounding midtown area when everything is all wet and unhappy outside?"

"Well, maybe the sky spirits are upset because they want to see you dance. Have you tried dancing for them?" Skipper asked, hoping the stupid mammal would fall for it. Julien tapped his chin.

"Eh, now that you mention it, I haven't. Maurice! Why did you not suggest that I dance for them?" He turned to his advisor, who frowned.

"I did, Your Highness, but you said-"

"Forget what I said before, Maurice! Let's go appease the sky spirits! Maybe they'll also accept a sacrifice. Mort, you shall be the sacrifice, okay?" The mouse lemur smiled.

"Yay!"

"Goodbye, slap-happy penguins!" He waved at them and left through the side door, Mort close behind him. Maurice waited until they were gone before walking up to the penguins.

"Uhh. . . About what happened, I'm sorry. If there's ever a way to make it up to you guys, let me know." Julien's voice echoed from the hallway.

"Maurice!"

"I gotta go! Take care of yourselves, okay?" He pointed at Skipper, Private, and Rico. "I'll make sure he doesn't come back." Maurice gave Kowalski a pat on the back, turned around, and left through the side door, closing it behind him. Kowalski muted the TV again and put his headset back on.

"That was. . . strange." He said.

"I concur. Although, if we ever do need a favor, we'll take him up on that." Skipper replied. "Anyway, what's left in this level?"

"Just a second," The scientist quickly reset the camera to automatically follow them again and stood up straight. "Well, according to my notes, the exit point should be about twenty feet ahead. I suggest you hurry; the entry point and the bridge are broken, which means the level could be entirely unstable."

"This thing is just one challenge after another. . ." Skipper sighed. The penguins turned around and walked into the dense foliage.

"So, there's nothing else to worry about in this level?" Private asked, looking at the surroundings nervously. Kowalski checked his notes.

"Nope." The group reached the exit door in the middle of a clearing. Skipper tried the turn the knob, but his flipper went right through it.

"Kowalski. . ."

"Ugh, the door must have been affected by the power issues. Hang on." He looked at the various meters and machines on the floor and waddled over to the main controller box. He tweaked a few of the settings and looked up at the screen. Skipper tried again with the same result.

"Still nothing." Kowalski gave the box a hard kick and grabbed his foot in pain.

"Ow! Darn metal box." He grumbled. Miraculously, it worked, and they opened the door.

"There we go. It's working now, Kowalski!" Skipper announced. Kowalski continued holding his foot.

"Great." He muttered.

 **LEVEL 05 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 10:04)

 **Private:** 2 lives, 1,882 points

 **Skipper:** 2 lives, 1,792 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 1,912 points

The screen also displayed the following error message:

 **WARNING: LEVEL 05 CRASH, FATAL ERROR**

* * *

 **Yay! The penguins are still okay! :) To those of you who decided to stick around, THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D I know that was a bit dramatic with thinking they died and all, but I hope the comic relief helped everyone recover! :) Besides, you should blame Kowalski for completely forgetting about that backup memory bank in the first place. (Kowalski: HEY!) ;) The next chapter is another double-feature, so keep reading; there is more humor to come! :D**


	7. Levels 6 & 7

**Here's the next chapter! :D Let's see how the next two levels go! Not much to say here, except that Kowalski and Private have some knowledge on reading and writing (as seen in some episodes). Alright, let's continue, shall we? :)**

* * *

The group was now in a narrow cave with spider webs hanging from the ceiling. Ahead was a floor made of irregularly-shaped tiles with letters on them (like in _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ ).

"Well, it's official: Level five has completely crashed. You made it out just in time!"

"Yay!" Private shouted, raising his flippers in joy. Skipper gave the young penguin a pat on the back.

"I like your enthusiasm, Private, but we're not done yet. Kowalski, what do we have here?" He asked, gesturing to the floor in front of them.

"Okay, this level is simple. All you have to do is spell out a word by stepping on the correct letters on the floor. The right ones will be safe to step on, but the wrong ones will crumble beneath your feet and you will fall into the bottomless pit below. No pressure!" Skipper crossed his flippers and stared at the camera.

"Yeah, that sounds simple, but I know you, Kowalski; your idea of simple is anything but that. What's the word we need to spell, anyway?"

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"Exactly," He turned to his fellow penguins. "So, do any of you know how to read?" Private raised his flipper excitedly.

"Ooh, I do, Skippah! I've been practicing!"

"Alright, give it a shot." The little penguin waddled to the edge of the solid floor and studied the tiles of letters.

"Okay, S." Private jumped out into the middle of the tiles and landed on the right one. He stuck his flippers out to balance himself since the tile was only big enough for one of his feet.

"Now, O." Kowalski was about to warn him that his next guess was wrong, but Private had already jumped off the first tile and landed on the wrong letter. The tile crumbled beneath him and he fell, taking a few other incorrect letters with him.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"PRIVATE!" Skipper cried. "Note to self: Don't listen to Private." He added under his breath. The young penguin reappeared and flickered next to him, looking disappointed. Skipper grabbed the young penguin's shoulders and turned him so that they were facing each other.

"Private, I thought you said you could read!"

"I can, Skippah, but I don't know how to spell yet." Skipper let go of him and glared at Kowalski.

"Kowalski, remind me to slap you when we get out of here." The lieutenant gulped. Skipper threw his flippers in the air. "This is ridiculous! How many letters are in supercali- supercalifrag-?"

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"Yeah. How many letters are in that word, anyway?"

"Thirty-four."

"Oh, is that all?" Skipper replied sarcastically. "Well, we're not going to waste any more time with this. Rico, pebbles." The mohawked penguin regurgitated a bunch of pebbles onto the tiles, effectively removing the wrong ones and revealing the 34 correct ones. They jumped, one at a time, onto the remaining tiles and made it across to the door.

 **LEVEL 06 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 4:47)

 **Private:** 1 life, 1,995 points

 **Skipper:** 2 lives, 2,005 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 2,125 points

"Level seven is coming right up," Kowalski said, hitting "CONTINUE". "Private, you only have one life left. Be careful! I don't need to say what happens if you lose it." The small penguin nodded in understanding; he knew all too well what would happen. Skipper looked at him.

"It's okay, Private, we'll make it out of here. I'm a penguin of my word." He said, placing his flipper over his heart. Private gave him a little smile. They looked around to see they were in a dark room, the only light source being a spotlight above them.

"Okay, combat time!" Kowalski announced. Skipper grinned and rubbed his flippers together.

"YES! TIME TO SLAP SOME MORE HIPPIES!"

"Uhh. . . No, Skipper. There aren't any hippies in this level." The leader frowned and turned to face him.

"Aww, come on! Why not?"

"Well, for one, you defeated them in only thirty seconds."

"I can pretend to struggle a little bit! The fight could end in 45 seconds this time!" Skipper pleaded. Kowalski tried to conceal his laughter.

"Sorry, Skipper, the level is already programmed to not have hippies in it."

"Alright, Kowalski, you win. Who do we fight in this level?" On cue, the sound of skittering came from behind them. They turned around to see tons of sewer rats.

"Are we going to have to fight the Rat King, too?" Private asked, staring at the small rodents.

"No, just the normal sewer rats."

"What's the catch?" Skipper inquired, assuming his combat stance.

"I'm glad you asked, Skipper. There's a damsel in distress you need to save."

On the far side of the level area, another spotlight turned on, revealing Miss Perky hanging upside down over a cauldron of boiling water. Rico grew furious. He spun around to face the camera and attempted to punch his flipper through it. It took all of Skipper's and Private's strength to hold him back. Kowalski instinctively backed away from the TV and raised his flippers defensively.

"Kowalski, do you think that was a great idea?" Skipper questioned.

"Well, now that you mention it, I'm not so sure." He whimpered, imagining how much pain he was going to be in when the others got out. "R-Rico, before you go off planning how to kill me, listen. If you defeat the rats, you can save her." The penguin was already halfway through kicking the rats' behinds by the time he finished the sentence. Finally, Rico defeated the last rat, rushed over to Miss Perky, and freed her.

"Perky." He murmured, hugging her tightly. The others stared at him for a second before waddling over to him.

"Rico, you won't be able to take her out of the level," Kowalski informed him. Rico frowned, gently leaned her against the wall next to the door, and the penguins went to the exit.

 **LEVEL 07 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 1:34)

 **Private:** 1 life, 2,301 points

 **Skipper:** 2 lives, 2,411 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 2,531 points

* * *

 **Oh, no! Private has only one life left! :( Will he survive through the remaining levels? Level eight is next! Let's see what happens. . .**


	8. Level 8

**Okay, here's the next chapter! :D This level has references to "A Most Dangerous Game Night". There are no reviews to report, so we'll just continue! :)**

* * *

"The Snackatarium?" Skipper asked. They were standing in front of the store at night.

"Well, after that incident when I went with the lemurs on a snack run, I figured we could use some more practice."

"They need more practice, not us!"

"Would you rather this be a science-related level?" Kowalski asked testily.

"No, no, we're good, Kowalski!" Private interjected, effectively ending the argument.

"Okay, so your objective is to get a package of Peanut Butter Winkies from the store without setting off the silent alarm. Otherwise, it'll be harder to get out without losing a life."

"Meow-meows?" Rico asked eagerly. Kowalski looked at his level notes.

"Uhh. . . I think I put some of those in there, too, but they have nothing to do with-"

"A'right!" In his excitement, Rico completely forgot about the silent alarm. He hastily picked the lock and slid right through a laser beam on the floor, triggering it. Off in the distance, they heard police cars approaching, their sirens blaring.

"What happened?" Private questioned.

"Rico triggered the alarm."

"We haven't even walked into the store yet!" Skipper yelled, throwing his flippers in the air.

"There's a laser beam behind the door. Rico actually triggered it faster than the lemurs did." Skipper face-flippered.

"Great. Rico, watch out for lasers next time!"

"Sowwy."

"Does this mean the S.W.A.T. team is coming, too?" Private asked.

"Not necessarily. The N.Y.P.D. called them in after some balloons popped, thinking it was return fire." Skipper and Private entered and shut the door behind them. Rico was already standing on a nearby shelf, pointing to some boxes of Peanut Butter Winkies.

"Found 'em!" He said.

"Good job, Rico! Toss us a box." Skipper replied. He threw a package down to Private, who caught it. However, Rico threw it a little too hard and Private stumbled backward, trying to regain his balance. He bumped into a balloon stand, causing some of them to float up to a conveniently spinning ceiling fan. They popped.

Outside, the police were already surrounding the front of the store. They heard the balloons popping and immediately called for backup (a.k.a. the S.W.A.T. team).

"Congratulations, they called S.W.A.T.," Kowalski announced. Private quickly got up and looked outside.

"I'm sorry, Skippah!" He whimpered, picking up the box of Winkies. "Kowalski, what do we do now?"

"Shut the blinds so they can't see you!" Rico climbed up to the top of the shelf and ran toward the window. He jumped, grabbed the handle of the shade, and let his weight pull it down, covering the glass. He did the same for the other window.

"Well, at least those hypnotic police lights won't blind us anymore." Skipper said, rubbing his eyes. "Okay, we need to make our escape before the S.W.A.T. team gets here." Just then, they heard a big truck stop right in front of the store.

"Too late, they've arrived," Kowalski stated, concerned.

"Hoover Dam!" Skipper quickly examined the store and saw an air vent in the middle of the ceiling. "Rico, get that air duct open! We have to get out of here!" Rico saluted, coughed up their grappling hook, and fired. After successfully pulling the grate down, he reloaded the grappling hook and fired again. This time, the hook caught onto something in the air duct and Rico began climbing the rope. Skipper and Private glanced at the door to see a man with a bulletproof vest approaching it.

"Private, start climbing! I'll create a diversion." Skipper said, pushing him to the rope.

"Skippah, I'm not leaving here without you!"

"Wait with Rico up in the air vent! I'll be there in a minute!" Private reluctantly climbed up the rope as fast as he could, considering that he was holding onto the Peanut Butter Winkies with one flipper. Skipper stared at him and groaned; this was going to take a while.

"Alright, this is the police! Come out with your hands up!" Skipper looked down at his flippers for a second before looking around the room for something to distract them. He noticed some boxes of firecrackers and few feet away.

"Rico! Give me a match!" Skipper heard some gagging. A moment later, a single match fell from the air vent and landed on the floor next to him. He picked it up and rushed over to the boxes.

Thankfully, the match Rico gave him didn't require flint to ignite, so Skipper scraped it against the floor and dropped it on top of the stack; hopefully, it wouldn't take long for the firecrackers to light up. Private was almost in the air vent now, and Rico pulled him the rest of the way up. Skipper slid back to the rope and began climbing just as the man opened the door and entered. He noticed him right away and aimed his gun at him.

"We're penguins! Why are they going to shoot an innocent penguin!?" Skipper asked as he continued up the rope.

"Why would you need to rush if they just stared at you?" The lieutenant replied flatly.

"You know, Kowalski? Sometimes I seriously question your sanity." Fortunately, at that moment, the match burned through the exterior of the top box and lit the firecrackers inside it. Sparks began flying out in all directions, causing the officer to look at them for a moment. By the time he looked back, Skipper was gone.

"Hey, they escaped!" The man ran back out of the store to inform the others. Meanwhile, Skipper sighed in relief.

"Okay, we're almost done. Kowalski, where's the end of this level?"

"Up on the roof, where a police helicopter is waiting."

"Alright! What's a little more danger?" Skipper replied sarcastically. "Come on, men!" They climbed through the small maze of ventilation shafts and reached the end of it.

"Rico, if you cut the panel above you, you'll be able to climb onto the roof," Kowalski instructed. Rico regurgitated a blow torch and safety goggles and did as he was told. The penguins flipped onto the roof and hid behind a chimney. Skipper peeked around it to see the helicopter hovering near the other side of the building with a bright searchlight, which was sweeping around the roof. The exit door was closest to the helicopter.

"Oh, dear," Private said, looking out from behind the chimney as well. The searchlight swooped over to where they were, and they quickly ducked before it shined on them.

"Kowalski, options."

"Well, based on the trajectory of the beam, some of the objects on the roof can act as safe spots for you to hide behind as the light sweeps around. The first one is at ten o'clock." Skipper saw the one he was referring to and nodded. He gestured for Rico and Private to go first. When the light wasn't nearby, they slid over to it and waited.

"Okay, give us the word, Kowalski."

"The next one is at two o'clock. Wait for it. . . Now!" The penguins went to the next one. This continued until they reached the closest possible safe spot to the exit.

"Almost there," Private said. There was a large stretch of unprotected area from their current location to the door and, regardless of the spotlight's position, it was illuminated somewhat.

"We're going to have to chance it, boys. Okay. . . Go, go, go!" Rico and Private went to the door and stood against it. Skipper waited to make sure they were safe before he started toward them.

About halfway to the exit door, the light moved unexpectedly and illuminated where Skipper was. A shot rang out, and he grunted as he felt the bullet hit him. The penguin laid motionless on the roof and disappeared. Seconds later, he returned and, using the flickering to his advantage, slid the rest of the way to the door. Private and Rico helped him up, and the three penguins exited the level, leaving the Peanut Butter Winkies behind them.

 **LEVEL 08 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 4:29)

 **Private:** 1 life, 2,432 points

 **Skipper:** 1 life, 2,542 points

 **Rico:** 2 lives, 2,762 points

* * *

 **DARN YOU, POLICE SEARCHLIGHT! :[ Now both Private and Skipper have only one life left! D: Oh, Skipper glancing at his flippers momentarily was a little reference to "Cute-Astrophe" (Rico did that when Private said the Hyper-Cute was already in the wrong hands - them). XD Okay, so a certain enemy of the penguins will make an appearance in the next level. Who could it possibly be? :O Hint: He hates penguins. ;)**


	9. Level 9

**Welcome back, everybody! Super special thank you to Four Elements Pom for sending me a review! :) I really appreciate it! Here's a virtual love smoothie for you! c(') Ooh, you're close, but nope; it's another penguin-hater. XD Let's see who it is. . .**

* * *

The penguins were now standing on a countertop in a room of what looked to be a high-security facility. There was a barred window, some filing cabinets, a tiled floor, and dreary gray cupboards. Across from them was a metal door. Cages suddenly fell on top of them.

"Well, this is different," Private noted.

"Yeah, I thought it would be refreshing from all the other levels," Kowalski responded. Skipper sighed.

"Kowalski, the other levels couldn't have possibly been more different from each other."

"Anyways," The lieutenant continued, ignoring Skipper's comment. "This one is an escape level. The cages you three are stuck in cannot be opened using traditional Rico methods." Rico grabbed onto the cage bars and grumbled.

"Aww, man."

"You can, however, pick the lock."

"I thought you just said the cages couldn't be opened using traditional Rico methods!" Skipper retorted.

"I meant weapons and explosives." Kowalski clarified. Rico was already hard at work using a paperclip he coughed up to unlock his cage door. It opened with a small squeak and he waddled over to Skipper's and Private's cages to free them as well. Once that was done, the three examined the room.

"So, we're out of the cages. Now what?" Skipper asked. They assumed fighting stances as they heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door. A second later, it opened, revealing none other than. . .

"Officer X?!" They asked in surprise. He was wearing his animal control uniform and holding a taser stick.

"Hello, penguins," He said, staring them down under his dark sunglasses. "You thought it was hard enough to escape me in the real world; let's see how hard it is in the virtual one."

"This is a virtual version of him, right? Not like you trapped him in the game or something?" Skipper questioned.

"Yeah, I just thought it would be funny to put in a little inside joke."

"Hilarious." He said flatly, glancing at Private and Rico. "Let's get him, boys!"

"Wait!" Kowalski interjected. "This is an escape level, remember? Given that you and Private only have one life left, and Rico has two, you should just focus on getting out of there." Private looked at Skipper, confused.

"Wait a second, Skippah. How did you lose your first life?"

"Back on level three after you were taken by that guard dog. Kowalski failed to tell me that darts could ricochet off the floor." He explained, glaring at the camera for a second. Officer X walked over to them.

"Alright, penguins. Time to X-terminate you." Skipper groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Great, you just had to include the corny X puns, didn't you?" Kowalski smirked.

"Naturally." Officer X swung at them with his taser stick, but the penguins split up and jumped off the counter. They headed for the door with X right on their heels.

"Not so fast, penguins. I'm not letting you flightless birds get away from me that easily." The penguins slid out of the room and into a three-directional hallway.

"Okay, we'll split up. Private, go left, Rico, head right; I'm going straight." The penguins followed Skipper's orders and slid down their assigned hallways. Since Skipper decided to go straight, Officer X chased after him. Kowalski adjusted the game's camera so he could see all of them at once.

"Officer X is right behind you, Skipper," He informed him.

"Good. That's just what I wanted him to do." Skipper replied confidently. Kowalski nodded in understanding and glanced at Private's progress through the level.

"Private, keep following the hallway you're in until you reach the exit door."

"Okay, Kowalski!" He saw the door and stopped in front of it; all he had to do now was wait for Skipper and Rico to arrive.

Meanwhile, Skipper was trying to stay ahead of X. He tried to shake him off by making sharp turns, but the man managed to keep up. Eventually, he hit a dead end.

"Kowalski, why did you put dead ends in this level!?" Skipper asked.

"Well, this is level nine; I wanted it to be harder." He replied. Skipper stood up and glanced around for a way out as Officer X stepped closer.

"Well, well, well. It looks like this is the end for you, penguin." Skipper squinted in determination; he wasn't going down without trying to escape. Officer X lunged at him, his taser at the ready. Skipper dodged, and the weapon stabbed into the wall where he had been standing just moments before. The man quickly recovered and tried again as Skipper slid around him, missing a second time. The penguin headed back in the direction he came from.

"Kowalski, tell me how to get out of here."

"Take the next right and then go straight. Be careful! Officer X set up some traps in the hallways while he was chasing you."

"What kind of-" Skipper was suddenly yanked into the air by his foot as he slid over a snare.

"That kind, for one," Kowalski answered.

"Rico! I need you to get over here, quick!" Skipper shouted into his headset.

"Okay!" The scarred penguin grumbled. "'Ey, K'walski, 'elp!" Kowalski quickly pinpointed Rico's location in the level.

"Rico, take a hard left; you're close to him!" The crazy penguin turned and reached the hallway Skipper was in. He looked up to see Skipper staring tiredly at him; hanging upside down was making him lose consciousness. The scarred penguin threw up a playing card and flung it at the string, cutting it. The card flew back into his mouth as the leader fell to the floor.

"Thanks, Rico." He said, getting up. Rico nodded and waddled into the adjacent hallway to see if the coast was clear. Skipper checked in the other direction and ran right into X.

"Thought you could escape, did you? You didn't X-pect me to show up, huh?" Rico heard Officer X talking to Skipper and snuck down another hallway to flank him. Fortunately for Rico, X was too busy monologuing to hear him approach.

"No penguin is going to make a fool out of me, Officer X." The man started to make a grab for Skipper. Rico coughed up a monkey wrench as quietly as he could and jumped onto the man's shoulder. Unfortunately, Officer X noticed his reflection on the floor. He grabbed him and threw him down the hallway, right onto another trap. Rico's eyes widened as a huge weight fell toward him.

"Uh-oh." He braced for impact. Skipper flinched as he saw cracks appear on the floor. Rico popped up next to him, flickering. He glared at Officer X and spit some rocks at the ceiling, killing the lights. Everything was completely dark, save for the glow of the taser stick. After some sounds of struggling, Rico regurgitated his flashlight to reveal X tied up with duct tape. Skipper grinned.

"Excellent work, Rico. Let's go!" They slid through the hallways and found Private patiently waiting for them.

"Are you okay?" He asked. They nodded.

"Level ten, here we come!" Skipper said. They walked through the door.

 **LEVEL 09 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 5:43)

 **Private:** 1 life, 2,532 points

 **Skipper:** 1 life, 2,642 points

 **Rico:** 1 life, 2,862 points

* * *

 **Alright! They took care of Officer X and made it through the level, but now ALL of them have just one life left. :O Well, level ten is next. This is for all the marbles, the whole enchilada, the Yellowstone National Park thimble for Skipper's collection. . . all that good stuff! ;) Will they make it out alive? D: The next chapter will have some more DRAMA (with a splash of humor). :)**


	10. Level 10

**Okay, the penguins are now in level ten. Like I mentioned before, there will be some drama ahead! Just a quick little note: I don't consider myself an expert on writing fight scenes, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! :) Alright, let's do this thing!**

* * *

Skipper, Private, and Rico found themselves in the HQ. It was dark except for the dim, blue light coming in from the portholes. They were facing away from the TV.

"Yay! We're back!" Private cheered. He looked around and his face fell. "Oh, wait, this is level ten. Never mind."

"Okay, this is it. Once you beat this level, you'll come out of the game! Since all of you have one life, though, you'll have to be extremely careful."

"Thanks again for the warning, Kowalski," Skipper replied. "How about telling us what we have to do?"

"It's a combat level. In a few seconds, someone will enter through the side entrance. They'll have three lives, so once you hit them three times, you win."

"That sounds simple enough; I thought you said level ten was the hardest."

"That's what I'm worried about, Skipper. It is. If any of you make a mistake. . ." Kowalski's voice trailed off. He hoped that wouldn't happen. All he could do was watch and give advice if needed. Skipper, Private, and Rico stood next to each other and faced the side entrance, flippers raised and ready for combat. Everything was quiet, until. . .

BANG! The side door opened, revealing Hans the puffin.

"Hello, Skippa!" He greeted in his Danish accent. The bird stood with his wings tucked suspiciously behind his back.

"Hans!" Skipper growled. Hans clicked his tongue in fake disappointment.

"Oh, now is that the way to say hello to an old friend? I even brought you a gift!" He revealed what he was holding: It looked like his freeze ray/cappuccino maker, only deadlier (if that was possible).

"Kowalski, what does this weapon do?" Skipper asked quietly. "I doubt it makes cappuccinos."

"You're right, it doesn't. It makes lattes. But besides that, it acts as a freeze ray, shrink ray. . . and death ray. The first two will disable you for a short amount of time; the last one is self-explanatory. Each one will have a distinct color: The freeze ray is blue, the shrink ray is green, and the death ray is red. He'll choose randomly, so watch out." Skipper and the others nodded. Hans stared at them.

"What? You have nothing to say about my present? Well, let me show you what it does!" He aimed at them and pulled the trigger, the gun glowing red for a quick second before firing. The penguins dove for cover in different directions as the beam shot out, leaving a huge burn mark between the portholes. The puffin laughed and aimed at Skipper, who was now standing behind the table. This time, a blue light radiated from the gun.

"Rico, Private! Get him!" They ran toward Hans, but he spun around just as the gun fired. It hit Rico, who turned blue and fell to the floor.

"Rico won't be able to move for ten seconds," Kowalski said. Private managed to miss getting hit and kicked the puffin, who stumbled backward. Hans disappeared momentarily and began to flicker.

"Good job, Private! He only has two lives left." The lieutenant informed him. Private smiled and waited for another opportunity to attack. Hans glared at him.

"Oh, you want to play, too? Okay! Any friend of Skippa's is an enemy of mine!" He aimed at him and fired his shrink ray. Private dodged it easily. Skipper snuck behind Hans and gave him a chop to the neck, making the bird lose another life. Rico thawed and got up, smiling as he saw the Danish puffin flicker a second time.

"Alright! Just one more hit and he'll disappear!" Kowalski shouted excitedly; they were so close. "Oh, the ray gun won't give much warning this time around, so rely on your reflexes before trying to attack."

"It wasn't giving us much of a heads-up before, but okay, Kowalski." Skipper replied. Hans held the gun tightly and frowned.

"I'm sorry, Skippa. I didn't realize I was being too easy on you. How about we take things up a notch?" This time, Skipper hardly had time to notice the weapon flash red before it fired, missing him just barely. Kowalski wasn't kidding; this was it. Hans fired again, another red beam shooting out of the device. It hit one of the portholes and reflected into the opposite wall, creating another burn mark.

"Oh, right. The beams will reflect off the TV and the windows, as well as fire for a longer period of time." The lieutenant warned. Rico tried to attack but was hit with the shrink ray; he turned to the size of a playing card.

"Aww, come on!" He squeaked. If they weren't fighting for their lives, Private would've laughed at the sound of his voice. The young penguin barely avoided another red beam by rolling sideways away from the bunks.

"Isn't this fun? I love ray gun roulette!" Hans laughed. Suddenly, Private was frozen in place, as well as Rico, who had just returned to normal and wound up in the line of fire. They were standing next to each other, eyes wide as Hans stared mischievously at them. He turned to Skipper, who was getting off the floor after ducking a red beam that had reflected off the TV.

"Skippa, I'd think you'd love to watch me kill two flightless birds with one stone." He aimed at Private and Rico and pulled the trigger.

The leader knew what he had to do. Time seemed to slow down as he ran toward his teammates. The red beam shot out. Skipper launched himself into the line of fire, spreading his flippers out to shield them. He flinched as the ray got him point-blank in the abdomen, and he collapsed against the bunks, grabbing the wound. Although frozen, Rico and Private saw the entire thing. The remaining five seconds of the temporary freeze lingered for what felt like an eternity. Finally, they could move again, and they rushed to his side. Skipper looked at them with half-lidded eyes, his life fading. With his last bit of strength, he reached out and gently touched Private's shoulder.

"I promised I'd help get you out of here if it was the last thing I did," He whispered. "Take care, young Private." He smiled weakly and closed his eyes, his flipper slowly dropping to the floor. He let out his last breath and vanished. Private's blue eyes welled with tears and he began to sob uncontrollably, burying his face in his flippers. Rico started crying as well and held Private in a tight embrace.

Back in the real HQ, Kowalski stared at the TV with dismay. His heart had dropped like a stone the moment he saw Skipper jump into the line of fire. The TV screen now showed the following message:

 **Skipper:** 0 lives, 2,642 points

Kowalski took in a shaky breath, tears beginning to stream down his face for the second time since everything started. He fell to his knees (yes, penguins have knees) and cried.

"Skipper! It's all my fault!" He wailed, placing his flippers over his chest. He looked at the TV again, his vision blurry.

 **Skipper:** 0 lives, 5,000 points

Wait, what? Kowalski rubbed his eyes and squinted at the screen. How was that possible? Skipper was. . . So, how could his score be up to 5,000 points? He watched incredulously as the number continued to rise.

 **Skipper:** 0 lives, 20,000 points. . . 100,000 points. . . 1,000,000 points. . . TILT

The message disappeared and showed Rico and Private still mourning the loss of their commanding officer. Gradually, Skipper reappeared, still leaning against the bunks. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at them.

"Private? Rico?" He asked, confused. The other two stopped crying and gawked at him.

"Skipper!?" The leader looked down at his feathers and saw they were unharmed.

"I'm alive?" Kowalski stared at the TV in astonishment.

"Skipper!" He shouted, more than pleasantly surprised. "You're alive!"

"Oh, good. I thought Rico and Private joined me." He sat up but was quickly pushed back against the wall by Rico and Private hugging him.

"Skippah!" Private cried with tears of joy. Skipper wrapped his flipper around him.

"It's okay, Private. I'm still here." During the whole scene, Hans stared at them, drinking a latte that he had made using his ray gun. They looked up when he spoke.

"Aww, that was sweet," He said, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye. "It's almost too sweet for me to annihilate you. Almost." He finished his latte and tossed the cup to the side, which landed on the floor and shattered a few feet away. The penguins stood up and glared at him.

"Any final words?" He asked, pointing the gun at them. To the puffin's shock, Rico hacked up his flamethrower and prepared to pull the trigger. Skipper smiled.

"Yeah, this." Rico opened fire (literally), causing a stream of flames to head straight for Hans; the Danish fugitive didn't stand a chance. When Rico finished, all that was left were the melted remains of the ray gun. Kowalski smiled.

"You did it! You beat all ten levels! Just climb through the fish hatch and you're done!" The penguins smiled at the camera and left the level. The TV showed the following message:

 **LEVEL 10 COMPLETE**

( **Time:** 5:12)

 **Private:** 1 life, 2,632 points

 **Skipper:** 1 life, TILT

 **Rico:** 1 life, 2,962 points

 **FINAL STANDINGS**

 **1** **st** **Place** – **Skipper:** 1 life, TILT

 **2** **nd** **Place** – **Rico:** 1 life, 2,962 points

 **3** **rd** **Place** – **Private:** 1 life, 2,632 points

* * *

 **YES! They made it, ladies and gentlemen! Woot-woot! :D (balloons and confetti fall from the sky) Oh, by the way, Hans's weapon was based on the freeze ray in "Smotherly Love". Now, for the most obvious question: How did Skipper survive? That question shall be answered in the final chapter, so keep reading! :)**


	11. Back to Reality

**Okay, here's the last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who has read my fanfic! It really means a lot to me! :3 Well, let's wrap this story up!**

* * *

Kowalski grinned and turned away from the TV. In just a few moments, Skipper, Private, and Rico would be safe and sound in the HQ. There was a bright flash of light and the penguins appeared in the middle of the room. Kowalski ran over to the group and wrapped his flippers around them in a suffocating hug.

"Welcome back!" He shouted, fighting the urge to cry with joy.

"Stand down, Kowalski!" Skipper wheezed. The scientist let them go.

"Whoops, sorry." The penguins looked around the darkened HQ; the only source of light came from the TV screen and the windows, giving it the appearance of level ten.

"Ah, it certainly feels good to be back, although I didn't expect to be around to see it again." Skipper said. Private twiddled the tips of his flippers.

"Kowalski, how did Skippah come back after he-?"

"I was thinking about that, Private. I looked over all my notes, and nowhere did I find anything about the program rewarding extra lives for saving someone else." He answered.

"You mean the program gave me an extra life by mistake?" Skipper questioned in disbelief. Kowalski nodded.

"I assume it was a glitch that developed after the string of power surges earlier."

"Oh, well, that's good." He replied.

"It sure is, Skippah!"

"Uh-huh!" Rico added.

"At least it's all over now," Kowalski said in relief, taking his headset off and handing it to Rico. Skipper and Private did the same, and the weapons expert swallowed the earphones.

"Not so fast, Kowalski. I promised to slap you back on level six, remember?" Skipper said. The lieutenant flinched; he was hoping Skipper had forgotten about that.

"Oh, yeah. But, since you all made it out okay, we can just forget it, right?" He asked hopefully; he was answered with a slap to the face. "I guess not." He mumbled, rubbing his cheek. Rico said something to him in gibberish about almost hurting Miss Perky in level seven. The scarred penguin started walking toward him, punching his fist into his flipper tauntingly. Kowalski gulped and started to back away.

"Wait, Rico. . . Don't do something you'll regret later. . ." Rico continued towards him. Kowalski closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. When nothing happened, he cautiously opened one eye and saw Skipper and Private staring at something behind him. He opened his other eye and turned to see Rico hack up his baseball bat and raise it over the VR headset. The scientist's eyes widened.

"Rico, don't!" He yelled. The mohawked penguin slammed the weapon down, crushing the goggles in one swing. He nodded in satisfaction and waddled over to the various machines on the floor, beginning to destroy them as well. Kowalski tried to pull him away, but Rico shoved him, causing him to fall on his back. The others stood there as Rico smashed the rest of the VR equipment, sparks flying out from the split wires.

"All d'ne!" He announced, swallowing his baseball bat. Kowalski got up and looked at his precious VR training program in dismay.

"My program," He whimpered, gently picking up the remains of the VR goggles. "It's ruined!" He hugged the item close to his chest. Private waddled over and placed a comforting flipper on his back.

"It's for the best, Kowalski." He said.

"I know," Kowalski replied after a moment of silence, sniffling slightly. Skipper placed his flippers on his hips.

"Well, I think this whole adventure has taught us a valuable lesson."

"What's that, Skippah?"

"Virtual reality isn't all it's cracked up to be. From now on, us penguins stick to the old-fashioned way of training, and if Mamma Nature prevents us from training outside, we'll just train inside. Now, I think we've had more than enough training for one day. Who wants to play a game of cards?" The others nodded and sat around the table. Rico regurgitated their deck of cards and shuffled them.

"Okay, Rico. Deal them out."

 _ **The End**_

* * *

 **Well, that concludes another PoM adventure! I hoped everyone enjoyed it! :D As for the glitch that saved Skipper's life,** **I based it on The Fairly OddParents episode "Power Mad" (that episode was also a huge inspiration for writing this story in the first place). Okay, now that this tale is over, please favorite and/or review! I always appreciate getting feedback! :) Also, feel free to check out my other stories by visiting my profile! Until next time, stay cute and cuddly, people! ;)**


End file.
